Conventional bottles for preserving liquid drinks and the like are being gradually replaced by paper packages. Such packages are generally comprised of a blanks made from a paperboard substrate that is sandwiched between layers of a thermoplastic material. These blanks are side-sealed and presented to the input of a packaging machine. The packaging machine erects these blanks, seals their bottoms, charges them with product, and seals their tops.
A number of such package-types have now come into common use. One such package type is the gable-top container. Another such package type is the brick-type container. In many instances, it has become popular to provide such containers with a spout assembly comprising a fitment and a cap that provides the container with a resealable opening that provides quick and simple access to the container contents.
A packaging machine that is designed to form and seal a package with such a spout assembly is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,811, entitled "Process and Apparatus for Assembling and Liquor-Charging of Packages of Paper and the Like". The device disclosed in the '811 patent purports to be an apparatus for the successive production of a number of paper packages fitted with respective spout on a part of the top end portion thereof and charged with a liquid drink. The spout includes a spout proper having a general cylindrical are configuration and formed generally therethrough with a liquid spouting passage provisionally fixed to the root end of the spout proper. For better sanitary purposes, the spout is introduced into the open and of a semi-package from inside thereof. The spout introduction and attaching job is carried out directly before charging with liquid. Only thereafter, liquid charging-in and top-closing jobs are carried out in a sterilized atmosphere. Within the sanitary execution of these jobs, the spout agency and sealing attachment are included for increasing the sanitary safety.
As such packages have increased in popularity, the demands on the shelf-life of the contents have likewise increased. The shelf-life is directly dependent on the sterility of the packaging process. The foregoing system described in the '811 patent, however, does not provide the sterility required to achieve such extended shelf-lives. The present inventors have found that the current processes for sterilizing a carton prior to charging with the product often neglect a significant potential source of contamination. Accordingly, they have provided the invention disclosed and described herein.